


Not All That Glitters is Gold

by Kedreeva



Series: Postcards to Haven [2]
Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Multi, Postcards to Haven, Strip Search, Threegulls, Wedding Fluff, Wedding Rings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-24 01:07:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6136174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kedreeva/pseuds/Kedreeva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan proposes they go panning for gold on their final day in Alaska. Duke proposes a little more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

 

 

            Most of the last day of their Alaskan adventure is spent traveling back to Anchorage. Duke drives and Nathan navigates from the passenger seat, even though there’s really only one road they can possibly take. Audrey is asleep in the backseat, Nathan’s jacket over her like a blanket and one of Duke’s sweaters under her head for a pillow. Duke had adjusted the rear view mirror ages ago so that it showed him her face instead of the road.

            “Can we make a stop?” Nathan asks during one of their longer stretches of silence. Duke looks over and Nathan has got his nose in a brochure.

            “We can make any stop you want,” Duke says, both because it is _true_ , and because he recognizes the brochure. “What did you have in mind.”

            Nathan flips the brochure closed and then opens it again, looking a little guilty. “Gold panning,” he admits. “Always wanted to try it.”

            Duke smiles. “I remember,” he says, slow and easy, and Nathan looks over curiously. “You spent weeks up to your knees in that muddy little creek out by the golf course with your dad’s colander trying to find gold.”

            He laughs when Nathan whacks him gently on the arm. “I was ten,” he defends, but he is smiling too, so Duke does not feel too badly about teasing him. “Anyway, I didn’t do it alone, if I recall.”

            Duke smiles on reflex, which in itself feels nice. Sometimes in the quiet moments, their years spent apart still ache, and he cherishes every time Nathan chooses to pull them closer together, remind them both that _away_ was only a part of what made them who they are. That the _here_ part of their relationship holds far more weight.

            That neither of them have to be _alone_ anymore.

            “Never found any gold,” Nathan says, pulling Duke’s attention back to him.

            “Not in a mudbed in Maine,” Duke chuckles, trying to stay quiet so Audrey can sleep. “Maybe your luck will be better here.”

            He doesn’t miss the soft smile, or the way Nathan sits back in his seat like he has accomplished something, convinced Duke of one more stop. Duke just smiles, because he had planted that brochure, planned to take them anyway even if Nathan had not suggested it. He has plans, _secret_ plans, plans that he has kept for the duration of their galavant through Alaska, plans that he is very pleased to have Nathan unwittingly help to keep secret.

           

* * *

 

            It doesn’t take them as long as Duke thought it would to get the to main office of the tours. The guy behind the counter is wrapping up a talk with a small family, sending them on their way with tiny vials of gold flakes that they managed to dredge up from the long river down the way.

            Duke lets Nathan sort out the details of what they are doing, barely listens in to Nathan’s conversation with the worker. Instead, Duke trails after a sleepy and slightly confused Audrey, who had woken up only a few minutes ago to find that they were indeed not back at the _Rouge_. She was currently plucking at a history booklet with half-hearted interest.

            “So… we’re digging up gold?” Audrey asks, muffling a yawn in her sleeve. Duke’s sleeve, technically, as she had turned her pillow back into an article of clothing before getting out of the car.

            “Panning for gold, technically,” Duke says, turning the booklet right side up in her hands. She blinks at it like she has no idea what changed, and then squints at Duke.

            “Why?” She could not sound more bewildered if she tried. “It’s _cold_ and _wet_ and _dirty_.”

            Duke leans in close, so only she can hear him. “I’ve never heard you object to the second two,” he says, and takes the booklet away from her, setting it back on the shelf before she can swat him with it. She swats at him anyway, a soft flush on her cheeks, and he kisses one of them. “Come on.”

            They move back to where Nathan has switched from talking business to talking excitedly about interesting finds. The conversation stumbles to a stop when Duke and Audrey arrive, hand in hand, and Nathan smiles. “Ready?”

            Duke gently disentangles his fingers from Audrey’s and ushers her toward Nathan. “I’ll bring the supplies, if you want to head down and pick a spot?” he suggests. The guy is already pulling equipment from the storage room behind the counter.

            Reluctantly, Nathan and Audrey head out the side door without him. Through the open door, Duke can see several other groups of people spread out all along the river bank, wading around in the icy water or sitting on the shore with tins between their hands. When the door closes, he turns to the desk worker and smiles.

            Then he pulls the stack of pans apart and reaches into a sealed, hidden pocket of his jacket. He holds up the objects he pulls out, earning a wide grin from the worker, and then places one in each pan. He stacks them up again so that the empty one is on top, and lets the guy add a couple of small containers to it that look like they are for holding anything the trio might _actually_ find.

            When he reaches them, Audrey is hanging back well out of range of the rushing waters and Nathan is already taking off his shoes. Duke makes a noise to catch his attention. “I’ll fill the pans for us,” he offers. “Come take these vials?”

            After a moment of indecision, Nathan puts his foot back into his shoe and comes to take the small containers out of the top pan. Audrey is there the same moment, and takes one from Nathan to examine it. Duke makes the best of the quick diversion to slip away from them, heading toward the river bank.

            He finds a spot that is not quite as damp as the rest, a spot with a rock for Audrey to sit on instead of the muddy bank, and quickly strips out of his shoes and socks so e can wade in. Atop the rock, he places the three pans, and then slides the bottom one out first. He checks the object inside to be sure which it is, and then palms it so it doesn’t get lost in the mud of the current.

            The silt is harder to dig through than he thought it would be, but he manages to get a good amount into the pan before dragging it out of the water. He lays his hand over the top of the pile, as if settling it, and uses the opportunity to bury the object under the silt with his thumb. He repeats the motions with the second pan, fighting the little thrill of nerves that sparks under his skin.

            There is no going back now.

            By the time he pulls his own pan to the surface, Audrey and Nathan have joined him. He clears the pans away from the rock and Audrey steps tentatively onto it. She is barefoot, her jeans rolled up just enough to look ridiculous but not enough to actually keep her dry if she steps into the water. Nathan’s pants are in a similar situation, and Duke can’t help but chuckle at both of them.

            Audrey holds up her hands like she is waiting for a present, and Duke makes a show of gifting her pan to her. She seems to have gotten on board with the event, and Duke wonders what Nathan said to her while they were preparing to join him. He passes Nathan a pan with a soft smile, and watches as Nathan plops down in the mud of the riverbank and begins to shake the pan in the water.

            Duke does his level best to keep a straight face, remembering how utterly filthy they had gotten as kids and knowing that Nathan’s excitement over the prospect of _finding gold_ far outweighed the fact that he would have to do his own laundry when he got home. He crouches down enough to slip his own pan under the water, trying to look like he is doing anything except watching the two of them with every ounce of his attention.

            He knows the moment Audrey finds hers by the way she stiffens, blue eyes going wide a second before her gaze snaps up to him. He can’t hear anything over his heartbeat in his ears, but he doesn’t need to; Audrey doesn’t say a word. Instead she tears her attention away from Duke and turns it on Nathan, who is still shifting his pan around in the murky shallows.

            It takes what feels like _decades_ for Nathan to finally pull his tin from the river so he can see what is left in the bottom after the sand and grit have washed away. Duke is not sure what he expected, but the furrow in Nathan’s brow as he picks up the ring is not it. Nathan holds it between two fingers, and then looks up to Duke and Audrey.

            “Someone must’ve dropped their ring,” he says, and startles when both Duke and Audrey let out sharp barks of laughter. Audrey very nearly slips and falls into the river.

            Nathan, for his part, looks very put out.

            “What?” he asks in irritation, clambering to his feet as Duke wades across the few feet between them, a fond smile on his face.

            “No one dropped their ring, Nathan,” Duke tells him, heartbeat thick in his chest and in his fingertips as he tries to find the right words. “It’s yours.”

            “No,” Nathan tells him, free hand touching his chest where Croatoan’s ring used to rest. “I gave that thing to William, remember? This isn’t-”

            “It’s _for_ you,” Audrey interjects, eyes still bright with laughter. Duke can see the moment it dawns on Nathan, sees the faint blush on those pretty cheekbones, and the way his eyes widen and snap to Duke’s the same way Audrey’s had.

            Duke swallows, screwing up every ounce of courage and confidence that can possibly tell him this will be okay, that he should not be worried. “It’s for you, if- if you’ll have it,” He turns a little, shifting to include Audrey in what he is asking. “If you’ll both have me.”

            There is something utterly relieving in the way that Nathan doesn’t hesitate to put the little golden band around his finger. Duke is still dizzy with the feeling when Nathan closes the last bit of space between them, taking Duke’s face in both hands, and kissing him so thoroughly that Duke almost loses his footing.

            Even as Nathan is pulling back, Duke feels Audrey’s arms slip around his waist and he realizes she has waded into the river to wrap herself around him. “ _If you’ll have me_ , he says,” she scoffs, then looks up at him with her warmest smile. “As if he thinks we’d let him get away.”

            “You’re stuck with us, Crocker,” Nathan agrees, kissing him once more for good measure before Audrey stands on tip-toes to give him a kiss of her own. Duke can feel the cold metal of the band on her finger in sharp contrast to the warmth of her hand on his neck, and that is more than enough to unwind the knot of nerves in his belly.

            As soon as he is free of her kiss, Duke bends down and scoops Audrey out of the water. Nathan automatically moves out of his way and they relocate to slightly dryer ground. “You didn’t read the inscription,” Duke tells them when he sets Audrey back on dry land.

            The moment they both look torn about removing the rings, even to look at them by his request, leaves Duke a little breathless. Audrey does it first, after a glance at Nathan, and then squints at the inside of the ring. Her fond huff of laughter seems to convince Nathan, who removes his own to do the same. Upon reading the inscription, Nathan rolls his eyes and breaks into a wide grin.

            “Clever,” he says, and Duke does not stick out his tongue, but he considers it.

            “ _Going everywhere_ ,” Audrey says as she fits her ring back on her finger.

            The little, nervous flutter returns to Duke’s belly as he grasps for a way to tell them what he wants - _needs_ \- them to know. “I know that we… we tell each other that we’re not going anywhere.” He lets out a soft, breathy noise that falls somewhere between amused and _overwhelmed_. “And I- I don’t think that should mean going nowhere. I want it to mean everywhere. Together.”

            Nathan replaces his ring on his finger, eyes still on Duke. “Doing good with that so far,” he says, brows raising to indicate where they are standing, tone colored to include all of the many adventures they had had together since leaving Haven’s port.

            “Oh!” Audrey says, alarmed. “What about yours?”

            “Mine,” Duke says slowly, “is back on the _Rouge_ in its hiding spot so that you two _incredibly nosy_ children couldn’t find it before I was able to give them to you.”

            Audrey makes a noise of protest, but Nathan just laughs. “You did go through his entire closet,” he points out.

            “We were at sea for _three days_ , Nathan. Three _days_.” She doesn’t bother to look to Duke for sympathy in that department.

            “I’m pretty sure the _coast guard_ has done less thorough searches of my belongings when they _knew_ I had something to hide,” Duke says, but he keeps his tone light and teasing. “But I managed.”

            “You’ve had these on you since we left Anchorage?” Audrey asks him. “Where on earth were you keeping them?”

            Duke raises an eyebrow and gives her a look. “You wanna search me tonight and find out?”

            Nathan laughs, but Audrey lifts her chin with a mischievous smile. “ _Thoroughly_ ,” she says, low, and heat flushes under Duke’s skin. “And Nathan’s gonna help me.”

 

* * *

 

            Audrey makes good on her word the moment they are through the doorway on the _Rouge_ , her hands worming their way into every pocket she can find. “Keys,” she says as she pulls out the rental car set and tosses them to Nathan to hang by the door. “Money clip, lockpick, more keys.”

            Duke knows he could just tell her where he hid the rings, but when she slides her hands into the empty back pockets of his jeans and squeezes, he decides maybe letting her strip search him is not such a bad idea after all. Especially not when Nathan helps by pressing up against his back, warm hands smoothing their way into Duke’s front pockets as soon as Audrey pulls her hands out of his back ones.

            “We’d have found them here,” Nathan rumbles, fingers flexing close but not _close enough_. Duke groans, lifts his hips into Nathan’s hands and lets his head drop back against Nathan’s shoulder.

            “Make extra sure,” Audrey tells him as her nimble fingers start in on Duke’s fly. “Look for hidden pockets.”

            Nathan huffs a laugh, breath puffing warm over the side of Duke’s neck, but he obeys the command nonetheless. He pulls his hands from Duke’s pockets and smooths his hands around Duke’s hips, down the outside of his thighs and back up to his ass, giving just enough of a squeeze to make Duke jump.

            “I didn’t hide them in my pants,” Duke tells them, voice rough but amused.

            “That is exactly what someone who hid them in his pants would say,” Audrey comments slyly, clicking his zipper down tooth by tooth over the hard line of his cock, letting the minute vibration echo through the fabric of his briefs. “Now we have to check.”

            Duke leans forward just enough to let Nathan tug his jacket off his shoulders, and then he helps Audrey out of hers. Behind him, he can hear Nathan having a momentary fit of practicality as he hangs all of the coats where they belong. Before Duke can get distracted, Audrey has him by the belt loops, tugging him toward the bedroom, her blue eyes bright with mischief.

            He finds out why the moment they cross the threshold and he finds himself being turned to face the wall. She presses herself all along his back, slides the backs of her hands along his arms to get him to put his palms to the wall. He chuckles, realizing what she is doing when she uses one of her feet to get him to spread his.

            “Parker,” Nathan says when he joins them, but Audrey only smiles wickedly.

            “We promised to search him,” she tells Nathan, and steps aside, leaving Duke displayed for him. “You promised to help.”

            Duke glances sidelong at Nathan with a grin, giving a little wiggle of his butt, and is treated to seeing Nathan give a little shiver of desire. “C’mon, Nate. You’ve had at least one fantasy about strip searching me,” Duke says, light and teasing.

            Nathan makes a small noise of sheer _want_ , but it is Audrey who says: “He has at least three that I know of,” and it is perhaps even more surprising that Nathan _doesn’t_ blush.

            Instead he rakes his eyes slowly down Duke’s lean form and back up to meet his eyes. “Had way more than three,” he admits, and closes the distance between them.

            Duke’s laugh dissolves into a low hum of pleasure when Nathan’s hands skate over his back, around his ribs, down his belly. He flexes back against him, braced against the wall, and Nathan pushes back, keeping him bodily in place as his hands roam, cursory searches over hips and down thighs, smoothing over calves and back up again. Duke closes his eyes and enjoys it, works to keep his hands where Audrey put them, to just let Nathan touch where he pleases.

            The blunt sensation of Nathan’s teeth on his neck focuses his attention, nearly distracts him from the way Nathan worms fingers between jeans and skin.

            Nearly.

            He rolls his hips as Nathan’s hands slide along them, taking jeans and briefs alike down. Nathan pulls away enough to push them past Duke’s knees, gives Duke enough space to step out of them, and then moves right back in, hands tracking up over the bare skin of Duke’s ribs. When Duke moves to take his hands off the wall, Nathan makes a noise of reprimand, and Duke stills immediately.

            Nathan settles in against Duke’s back, lets him take his weight, hooks his chin over Duke’s shoulder to murmur next to his ear. “Parker’s had a few fantasies of her own. Should let her have some of the fun.”

            Audrey laughs, still close enough to have heard, and then she ducks under one of Duke’s arms, putting her back to the wall so he is between them. “Who says I’m _not_ having fun?” she asks, but her fingers wriggle under his shirts too, settling in above Nathan’s.

            Duke hums his appreciation at having both their hands on him. “Your definition of fun usually involves solving cases,” he teases, squawking and squirming back against Nathan when she tweaks a nipple.

            Then she pushes upward against the last of his clothing and he is forced to lever himself away from the wall to let her pull it all over his head. The second he is free of it, he crowds into her space, careful to keep his hands on the wall to either side of her head as he kisses her.

            When he pulls away, it is just enough to rub his nose along the curve of her jaw, exhale softly next to the shell of her ear. She drags her nails lightly over his skin and then settles one cupped hand against his left side as she leans back against the wall to look at him.

            “Pocket,” she says softly. “Sewn into the seam of your jacket right here, just big enough to hold small things. A key, a gem, a dubloon. A pair of rings.”

            Duke smiles, skin flushing with fondness. Of course she’d figured out where he’d been hiding the rings. She’d probably figured it out before they even hit the deck of the _Rouge_. He shifts to finally take a hand off of the wall, cover hers with it, and press her to his ribs.

            “You got me,” he whispers, pouring his love for her intuitive nature into the confession.

            He likes the way Audrey’s breath jumps at the words, the way her expression transforms to something raw and exposed. He especially likes the way she moves forward and stretches up to kiss him so he can’t keep looking at her, and the way she peels his hand off of hers to put it back against the wall just before she moves away again.

            “Got us, too,” Nathan tells him, moving to drape himself all along Duke’s back again, now that Audrey has released him.

            A breathless noise claws out of Duke’s throat when Nathan’s hands punctuate the statement by smoothing around his hips, dipping low to wrap around his cock. Duke’s head drops, eyes closing and hips jerking when Audrey’s fingers tangle with Nathan’s only seconds later, effortlessly working out a tandem rhythm. They each splay a hand on his hips, claiming him, keeping him still, and it is all Duke can do to hold himself together.

            Nathan’s hand leaves his hip, travels the length of his torso until one soft thumb finds his nipple. Duke swallows against the spark of pleasure, breath escaping him in a short pant. Audrey moves just close enough to set her shoulder against him, rest her head against his collarbone so she can watch.

            “Perfect,” Audrey whispers, and Duke pries his eyes open to look, unable to help the muted whimper that closes his throat when he sees what she is watching.

            Both Nathan and Audrey stroking him together, matching rings on their fingers, on their hands, on him. Duke sets his cheek against the top of her head to ground himself, grasps for something to bring him back from the edge, something to keep this from ending _far_ too quickly.

            “Not fair,” he murmurs against her hair, voice wobbling a little. She huffs a laugh and pulls away to look at him in question. “Got me outta _all_ of my clothes without taking off _any_ of yours.”

            Audey hides a grin, though not quite fast enough. “You’re still wearing socks.”

            Laughter startles out of Duke and Nathan both, rough around the edges but heartfelt. Duke cuts short his whine of loss when Nathan disentangles his hand from Audrey’s and steps away from him. He looks over his shoulder to watch Nathan strip out of his shirt and pants, until they are both in only their socks. Audrey keeps her hands on him the entire time, though she falls still to watch Nathan just as intently.

            “Looks like it’s two against one,” Audrey murmurs with a smile.

            “Not yet it’s not,” Nathan replies with a slow smile. Audrey makes a noise caught between delight and disgust at the terrible joke, and Duke hides his smile in his bicep before turning back to her, nosing gently at her cheek.

            “Could be, if you’d let us help you out of all those clothes,” he mumbles, smiling when a little shiver closes her eyes.

            A moment later, Nathan returns, warm along his back, his hands following the long lines of Duke’s arms to where his hands are braced on the wall. Duke shifts his hands to accommodate the touch and realizes his mistake a moment too late as Nathan drops his weight against Duke more fully. Though he might have been able to save himself if he tried, Duke lets his elbows buckle, takes both their weights on his forearms instead just so he can crowd a little more into Audrey’s space.

            The motion bends him, just slightly, puts his hips and thighs into better contact with Nathan’s, making both of them draw breath just a little too quickly. Audrey hums her appreciation of their new proximity and uses the opportunity to steal another quick kiss from Duke, swallowing his moan when Nathan pulls Duke’s hips tight against his own.

            “Sure you don't want to swap places, Nate?” Duke asks impishly, giving a little shake of his hips just to hear the guttural noise Nathan makes. “I'm sure Audrey could find a paddle somewhere on this boat.” They all know she wouldn't have to search for the kind of paddle he means; she knows exactly where they put it away last time.

            “Smartass,” Nathan hisses beside Duke's ear, sending heat bolting down Duke's spine. Nathan curls his hips in, his cock a hard line moving against the top of Duke's ass. “Maybe I'll just get off like this… mark you up instead of fucking you.”

            Duke _whimpers_ at the suggestion, pushing his hips back against the pressure. He's not entirely sure that's not _precisely_ what he wants now that Nathan has said it. The sensation of Nathan striping his back with cum, rubbing it into his skin with one hand so it's _impossible_ to rinse away the scent, leaving Duke smelling like Nathan for _days_ … he knows exactly which possessive buttons that pushes for Nathan, not to mention the way such a claim _settles_ Duke.

            He catches Audrey's eyes and smiles. “Can't I have both? ” he asks Nathan, relishing the way Audrey's eyes darken with desire at the suggestion; Nathan isn't the only one who likes to lay claim to Duke.

            “Greedy,” Audrey chides with no amount of reprimand. She touches her forehead to his, shifts to place her temple against his so that she can whisper against his ear. “You know, he could take you right here. I wouldn’t even have to move.”

Nathan’s hips stutter and Duke knows he heard, smiles smugly at the reaction even though neither of them can see it. “You’d move,” Duke rasps, rocking his hips back against Nathan. “You’d want a better view.”

            She shifts away, the back of her head tapping gently against the wall as she takes his face in both her hands and glances over his shoulder at Nathan a second before she looks Duke in the eyes. “I can see both your faces like this,” she says, brows rising to ensure he understands she means it. “There is no better view.”

            A shiver winds through Duke at the pronouncement, echoed in Nathan everywhere they touch. “Then yeah,” he pants, tipping his head enough to bump hers gently, trying to organize even one coherent thought. “Yeah, that- I want that.”

            With a smile, she pulls back and looks over his shoulder, silent communication flying between her and Nathan with only a second’s glance. Nathan shifts to feather kisses over the nape of his neck, pauses to suck a mark into the juncture of his shoulder, and then pries himself away to cross the room. Duke _aches_ to follow, but Audrey’s hands are steady on him, warm and centering, and he stays rooted where she is until Nathan returns.

            A bottle cap clicks in the quiet and Duke glances over his shoulder just in time to see Nathan sink to his knees. Warmth flushes over his skin when Nathan drops a kiss at the small of his back, one hand smoothing over the curve of his ass. Duke shifts to look under his arm instead, catches Nathan looking up at him expectantly, and Duke nods his permission, adjusts his stance.

            Even though it is a small thing, Duke appreciates that Nathan lets the chilly lubricant warm on his fingers before touching it to Duke’s skin. Audrey’s hands settle on either side of his neck to steady him and he closes his eyes, thoughts chasing the movement of Nathan’s fingers as he slowly, gently, works Duke open.

            Audrey pulls him forward into a kiss, a languid, easy motion more about seeking the taste of him than trying to get anywhere. Her hands slip down, over his clavicle, thumbs brushing the bone before sliding lower. His gasp breaks the kiss when she rolls a nipple between her knuckles, and she smiles, moving instead to pepper his jaw with kisses as she does it again.

            While he still has the ability, he shifts his weight to one arm, brings his other hand up to slide his fingers under Audrey’s jaw and pull her back into a kiss. Nathan curls his fingers at exactly the right moment to drive Duke crazy, and Duke knows he’s watching. Knows that Nathan is watching the slow drag of Duke’s splayed fingers down Audrey’s throat, knows he is watching when Duke undoes the first two buttons of her blouse and drops an open-mouthed kiss to her newly-exposed skin.

            “Sneaky,” Audrey breathes, tweaking his other nipple. He sucks in a breath and grasps at her wrist, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing each of her devious fingers in turn before wrapping his lips around two of them.

            Her thready moan goes straight to his dick, chased by the low, desirous growl Nathan gives in reaction. Duke has to close his eyes, start counting in his head, loses his focus on even that when Nathan withdraws his fingers. He laps at Audrey’s fingers once more before letting her tug them free, drops his eyes to follow her hand as she holds it out to Nathan for the bottle.

            After passing it over, Nathan clambers to his feet and shifts to the side to see, eyes with Duke’s on Audrey’s hands as she drizzles liquid onto her fingers. Nathan looks up as she gives it back and Duke likes whatever gets said as he looks between them, likes the way it makes Audrey smile, the way it leaves a blush over Nathan’s shoulders.

            Unlike Nathan, Audrey doesn’t wait for the lube to warm, eyes lighting up at his soft gasp when she first touches him. Her touch warms quickly after she gets a hand around him, but she doesn’t move to stroke, keeps her touch light, teasing as Nathan moves back to behind Duke.

            Nathan coaxes him into a better position with his dry hand and soft words, making sure that Audrey still has room to watch. Duke relishes the touches, lets himself be moved, braces against the wall to keep still when Nathan pushes forward carefully, slowly, slowly, slowly into him. He would be tempted to push _back_ , except that he knows how much Nathan enjoys feeling every second, draws it out, soaks it up.

            He’s not the only one, Duke thinks, eyes falling closed when Nathan stills for just a few heartbeats.

            “He feels good, doesn’t he?” Audrey muses idly, though there is nothing idle about the way her palm strokes up his cock, pulling a choked noise from him when she swirls over the head. Duke is not sure which one of them she’s asking, just that he’s incapable of answering. “He certainly _looks_ good- he blushes so pretty when he’s hot for you.”

            Nathan’s response is a rumble against Duke’s back, the kind of noise that leaves a tremble in Duke’s bones as Nathan begins to move, slowly at first and then in earnest. Duke doesn’t have to look at her to know Audrey is watching raptly, taking stock of Nathan’s thrusts, matching the slide and pull of her slick hand in time. His eyes slide shut at the double sensation, breath short, pleasure coiling tight in his gut.

            “Fuck, _Nathan_ -” Duke grunts, name twisting off into a wordless sound as Nathan’s forehead drops to the nape of his neck, changing his angle. His next thrust sends white-hot sparks of pleasure bolting through Duke, too much at once, and Duke has only enough sense to gasp Audrey’s name in warning before he’s spilling into her hands with a rough cry.

            Nathan rides him through it, slow, one hand splayed over his hip to keep him steady as he shudders, the other stroking lines over his ribs, down his flank, soothing. Audrey gives him space to sag forward, presses her cheek to his temple and murmurs soft and sweet into his hair- _that’s it, we’ve got you, so good, we love you._

            When Duke opens his eyes again, heartbeat still singing beneath his skin, breath still short in his chest, Nathan has stilled, tightens his grip for a second, just enough to pull Duke’s attention. He rests his chin on Duke’s shoulder, body pressed to every inch of Duke he can possibly reach.

            “Still want both?” he asks, his already deep voice rich with arousal.

            A noise somewhere between a laugh and a wrung-out moan escapes Duke, cock giving an aftershock twitch at the thought.

            “Yeah,” he rasps. Audrey runs a fingernail down the center of his chest, and he manages to lift his head, catches her eye and knows _exactly_ what she wants when she raises her brows just a fraction. He holds her gaze when he says: “ _Please_ , Nathan.”

            Nathan’s breath feathers hot across the sweat cooling on Duke’s shoulders. When he moves again, it is to press in deep, pulling Duke’s hips back against his own one last time before sliding out of him. He doesn’t stay away long, crowds right back into Duke’s space like any separation is too much.

            Duke rocks back against him, encouraging him to move again, and Nathan complies, hips flexing, dick dragging along the crease of Duke’s ass, the small of his back. Audrey peeks over his shoulder, a warm flush spreading from her cheeks and disappearing under the edges of her shirt and Duke noses at the line of her jaw, licks at the pulse jumping in her throat.

            “Like what you see?” he asks, thrilling at the small, wanting noise that squeezes out of her, at the throaty, hoarse sound from Nathan. Duke smiles, lifting his head to put his lips by her ear, her hair tickling at his face, and makes absolutely zero attempt to speak quietly enough for only her to hear. “You’re next, you know. Gonna get you out of every scrap of that clothing and into our bed to find out just how many marks it takes you to say I’m yours, too.”

            Behind him, Nathan stills, a shaky noise scraping out of his throat as he comes, fingers flexing hard at the top of Duke’s hips just to hang on through it. Audrey’s breath goes soft and fragile as she watches over Duke’s shoulder, temple pressed against his cheek.

            By the sound of it, Duke knows it won’t take much to bring her off, not if he makes good on his promise right away, but he also knows she’ll draw it out if she can; and she means to, judging by the way she’s managed to keep every piece of her own clothing intact. 

            Duke yelps when Nathan nips at his shoulder blade, but he doesn’t pull away, lets him suck a mark into the skin, lave his tongue over it to soothe away the small pain. He shifts enough to indicate he is going to move away from the wall, and Nathan reluctantly peels away from him.

            “Shower?” Audrey suggests softly, and at Duke’s dubious look, drags a cum-sticky hand down his chest to prove her point. Duke wrinkles his nose at her, but she’s right so he doesn’t protest.

            “Couldn’t hurt,” Nathan says, fingertips running lightly over Duke’s back. “We’re kind of a mess.”

            “A good mess,” Duke reminds them both.

            “The best mess,” Audrey agrees, herding both of them toward the door.

            The shower on the _Rouge_ has always been temperamental at best and Duke spends several minutes just fiddling with the controls trying finding a temperature that will neither freeze nor scald his fiancés. Nathan is less than helpful until Audrey distracts him, which is just as unhelpful as _that_ then distracts Duke, but eventually he gets the temperature on an even keel and ducks under the spray to rinse off.

            Warm hands splay over his back after only a few seconds, rubbing gently, and Duke leans back into Nathan’s caress, eyes closed. Nathan puts just enough space between them to let Audrey rinse her hands, and Duke opens his eyes long enough to watch her wriggle out of her clothing. She doesn’t make a show of it, as practical as Audrey Parker usually is, but equally eager to join them.

            She steps into the space in front of him, hands joining Nathan’s where they have settled around Duke’s midsection. His eyes slide closed again as he lets them touch and clean for a few moments before he chases them off of him and _actually_ cleans up. When he has finished, he scoots around Audrey to put her between them.

            While she is distracted with Nathan, Duke fetches the rough, natural sponges they had picked up in town and brings them back, soaking them under the spray and rubbing in some of the liquid soap Nathan likes best. He passes one to Audrey, keeps the other for himself, and they all take turns gently running hands and suds all over one another.

            There is no rush, no urgency to the affair, and Duke thinks that this has been one of his favorite happenings on their shared journey. They have nowhere in particular to be, no crisis which needs their immediate attentions, no reason to be on high alert, ready to rush to where they are needed because the only place they are needed is exactly where they stand. They have spent months now only being urgently needed by one another.

            “You’re making the face,” Audrey says softly, touching the line of his jaw.

            “Which face?” Duke asks, even though he knows exactly which face she means.

            “The one that says you’re a thousand miles away still trying to escape Haven,” she says, not mincing words or leaving him any space to wiggle out of telling the truth.

            He leans forward and kisses her- not to distract or dissuade her, but to reassure her that he’s still there with them. “I was,” he admits because none of this works without honesty. “But not in a bad way. I was just thinking how nice it is to go slow again. Things got…”

            “Yeah,” Nathan says when Duke just trails off.

            Things got hectic, got to be too much too fast, got to be overwhelming. _Things_ very nearly tore them apart, and half the reason they are here, so many thousands of miles and months away from Haven, is to get the distance to remind themselves that _those things had not succeeded._

            They are safe. They have each other. They can afford to go slow now, something Duke knows each of them feels so very acutely even if they rarely talk about it directly. There is relief woven into every gentle touch, every shared kiss, every lazy morning and late night. Awareness of exactly how lucky they really are colors every softly murmured reassurance, every _Good morning_ and _I love you_ and _Not going anywhere_ that passes between them.

            “It won’t be the same, when we go back,” Audrey reminds him. “It’s going to be slow back home, too. Because of what we did.”

            “I know,” Duke says, and he does. He knows that, but it doesn’t change how much he likes being exactly where he is, warm and sated and happy with the two of them. It all feels like a Sunday afternoon, knowing they’ll have to go back to Monday, even if they love their jobs. “I’m just appreciating the here and now. And the view,” he adds with a smirk, enjoying the blush that lights across her cheeks.

            “Is the view all you want?” Nathan asks, hands in plain view as they slide down Audrey’s sides, curve over her hips and lower.

            Duke swallows, eyes tracking the movement. “We’ll run out of hot water,” he manages.

            It doesn’t matter to him - he’s taken more than enough cold showers to know he would not be bothered by it - but he knows how cranky Audrey gets if things go cold in the middle. Even if it doesn’t go cold, she’ll have them both right back in here before sleep, and he’ll never hear the end of it if they have to shower in the cold _then_.

            Audrey wrinkles her nose and slides out from between the two of them, extracting herself from Nathan’s touch in the process. Duke leaves Nathan to shut off the water so that he can grab towels for all of them. They’d done laundry just after arriving in port, and despite their long journey away, the towels they had left behind are still fluffy and soft.

            Nathan holds his hands up and Duke lobs one of them to him, but he carries the other to Audrey, unfolding it as he crosses to her. She rolls her eyes as he wraps her up like a little kid and puts little kisses all over her face. He catches Nathan’s eyes over her shoulder, and Nathan actually _grins_.

            Then he comes up behind Audrey and scoops her up into his arms flailing and squealing to carry her toward the bedroom again. “Not fair!” she accuses.

            “We told you it’d be two against one,” Duke says as he follows after them, and Nathan almost drops her when he laughs.

            Gently, he lets her down to the bed, and she takes the opportunity to roll out of the towel and lay spread-eagle on the pristine covers. Standing in the doorway, Duke takes just a moment to admire the pair of them, Audrey sprawled naked and golden on his bed, Nathan with his towel slung low on his hips while he watches Audrey with all the warmth of a midsummer’s eve.

            They are beautiful, perfect, and as they both turn to look at him together, he finds himself thinking that of all the precious, priceless things that have ever been aboard his vessel, these two are the most precious, the most priceless, and they are his to keep every bit as much as he is theirs.

            Then Audrey is stretching her hands up to beckon him over, fingers curling and uncurling in impatience, and Duke goes to her willingly. The bed dips as he sets one knee on the edge and Audrey moves so he can get his leg over her, straddle her hips and put his hands to either side of her head. It is reminiscent of their earlier position, and Duke enjoys the little curl of satisfaction that brings.

            Even more so when her hands find his skin, trailing up over his belly, along his ribs to smooth down his back, searching. “You already found my secret hiding place,” he murmurs, glancing over when the bed dips on the opposite side as Nathan joins them.

            “You’re a pirate,” she says, looking at her hands rather than meeting his eyes. The smile that twitches at her lips is unrepentant. “You’ve got lots of secret hiding places for all your treasure.”

            She is nearly as incorrigible as Nathan, but it is part of what he loves about them both; they are unabashedly sweet and cheesy at every opportunity. Luckily, Duke grew up alongside of Nathan, and he learned to hold his own.

            “Oh, but you see,” he says slowly, lowering himself to cover her. “I don’t hide my treasure; I mark it.” He noses her cheek, presses a kiss against her smile, and then her jaw and then her neck. She gives a breathy little whine when he sucks a small mark into her collarbone.

            He shifts his weight to free one hand, stroking down her side and back up, cupping her breast, kneading gently just to hear her sigh. Nathan settles in beside them, leaning to kiss her as Duke moves to pepper kisses over her belly, letting Nathan’s hand replace his.

            Duke sits, knees still bracketing her hips, hands coming to rest where his thumbs can follow the curves of her hips, and for a moment he simply watches them kiss. Watches the way Nathan moves when he can feel her, watches the way her fingers tangle in Nathan’s travel-scruffy hair, watches the rise and fall of Audrey’s chest and the pulse beating in the line of Nathan’s throat.

            Then Audrey lifts her hips insistently beneath him, impatient for him to do something other than just look, and Duke can’t help but chuckle. He pushes his palms down just a little as he levers up onto one knee and then stretches out along her other side. She tracks his movement, sucks in a small breath when his fingers join Nathan’s.

            He watches his own hand skim slowly down her body, tickling feather-soft over her ribs. Given the opportunity, Duke would spend eternity touching Audrey like she is made of spun glass, but although she can be fragile at times, she is certainly not made of glass.

            As she lifts her hips into the ghost of his touch, he smiles and thinks perhaps she’s not made of patience, either.

            “We had _plans_ , Nathan,” Audrey says breathlessly, head tipped back on the pillow to give Nathan clear access to the length of her throat. “Plans for _him._ ”

            Nathan hums some kind of acknowledgement and Duke shivers the same as Audrey, though he is sure for different reasons. He is generally very fond of plans they make for him.

            “I liked his plan better,” Nathan murmurs along the line of her jaw.

            “Yeah?” she asks, dragging her eyes open and tipping her chin down to look askance at him. “What plan is that?”

            Nathan’s eyes raise from hers to meet Duke’s, and Duke can read the simple question in the twitch of his brow- _now?_ Duke throws his gaze south, sides of his fingers brushing Nathan’s in reply. Without hesitation, Nathan catches the movement and their hands skim down her body together, palms dragging over her hip bones.

            Whatever her protests, Audrey in no way opposes their sudden shift in attention, brings her knees up a little to give her heels purchase as she flexes into their combined touch. A quick exchange of glances and it is Duke’s fingers that slip between her folds first, firm but gentle.

            Audrey sighs and goes lax at the contact, so much so that Nathan chuckles and has to crowd a little closer before he joins in, hand dragging slow under Duke’s so they will both feel him. He puts himself up on his other elbow, enough that he can lean over Audrey’s chest. Duke quickly follows suit, meets him in the middle for a kiss where Audrey can see- and blocking her view of their hands.

            Duke feels the minute shift of Nathan’s body and takes the cue, nimble fingers sliding into her slick core at the same time Nathan rubs his thumb over Audrey’s clit. She gasps, body jerking, hands grasping at the covers beneath her. He feels Nathan’s smile, twin to his own, before he pulls away to see Audrey’s face.

            “We could stop and go with your plan,” he offers, tone aimed at insufferably casual. Nathan remains perfectly still, instantly playing along.

            “Nathan’s right,” she breathes out, voice a little shaky as she moves her hands to thread her fingers into his soft hair. “I like your plan better, too.”

            “You don’t even know the plan,” he tells her, soft, letting his lips curl into a grin.

            “I know it doesn’t involve _stopping_ ,” she hisses, grinding down against his fingers to make her point.

            “No stopping?” Duke asks innocently, keeping his eyes on Audrey just long enough to see her realize her mistake before he catches Nathan’s eye. “You heard that, too?”

            “I heard her,” Nathan said, voice gone rough, blue eyes dark. “We can work with that.”

            She opens her mouth, and Duke curls his fingers just as Nathan moves his as well, and whatever she’d had to say gets lost in a hoarse, cut-off shout. Their brief rinse in the shower had cooled her some, but Duke knows it wasn’t much, so he moves slow but steady, working her in rhythm with Nathan.

            Leaning down, he mouths at the soft flesh of her breast, enjoys the low noise she makes when he worries at her nipple with lips and teeth and tongue. She tightens her fingers in his hair to keep him there and, pressed up along his side as he is, he can feel when she begins to tremble.

            Across from him, Nathan curls forward and presses his lips to the soft pad of her shoulder below her collarbone and Duke hears him leave a mark, cannot help the sound he makes knowing it will match the one Duke left earlier. Audrey makes a similar noise, head pressing back into the pillow as her eyes slide shut to turn her focus inward, breath escaping her in shallow pants.

            “ _Nathan_ ,” she breathes out, pleading, and he moves up to quiet her with a kiss.

            Then he shifts and his fingers find Duke’s hand, and Duke moves to give him space to slide one finger into her as well, thumb still on her clit. She whines into Nathan’s mouth and Duke glances up to see them, to watch Nathan nip at her lower lip, press kisses to the corners of her mouth, down along her jaw.

            Duke feels her twitching around his fingers, curls them to move Nathan’s finger, too, and Audrey’s hips jerk up. “Again,” she tells him breathlessly. “Do that again, Duke.”

            “Yeah?” he asks, lips against her skin, eyes still tracking Nathan. She makes an impatient noise, out of words, and Duke chuckles, but he does it again and is rewarded with a high, sweet moan as Audrey rocks into the motion, seeking pressure, seeking _more_.

            “Don’t stop, please don’t-” Audrey pants, the end of her sentence swallowed in a low, pleased hum.

            “That’s the plan,” Nathan rumbles, and Duke smiles against Audrey’s skin, mouths over her breast, the pad of her shoulder, sets his teeth gently against the rise of her collarbone.

            Nathan moves up, murmurs something so softly against her ear that Duke cannot hear what it is, but it sends a shiver through Audrey, catches her breath and she snags Nathan’s wrist with one hand. A small cry escapes her as Nathan moves his hand again, and then she is coming apart between them, shaking and panting and holding onto them both.

            Duke, intent on following her earlier instructions, does not stop. As she begins to calm, he shifts up onto his elbow for a better angle, strokes in a little deeper, steady, enough to draw a whine from her as he kisses her jaw. “You told us not to stop,” he reminds her, a whisper caught on his grin.

            “Good,” she manages, opening her eyes and fixing them on Duke, dark and heated as her palm moves from his scalp to his jaw to keep him looking at her. “Good boy,” she adds with a sultry grin.

            The praise sends a bolt of arousal through him, hard. “ _Fuck_ ,” he breathes out, dropping his head to her shoulder and thinks _refractory periods be damned_ as he nuzzles into the crook of her shoulder, careful to keep his fingers moving with Nathan’s because he promised, because he can still feel her shaking around and against him, because he knows she is so close again.

            “We’ve got you,” Nathan tells her, voice the sort of soft that carries so much affection it leaves Duke weak just to witness it. Audrey doesn’t stand a chance, eyes closing again as her second orgasm courses through her, closes her legs on their hands to keep them there, keep them still.

            Duke rubs his nose along her cheek, kisses her as she comes back down from the double high. She moves her hand from Nathan’s wrist to Duke’s face to kiss him, thigh muscles relaxing to let them slide their hands free. Her breath is still too fast to kiss him properly, and Duke can see her pulse racing under the skin of her throat as she kisses Nathan next with the same short, sweet presses of lips.

            When he rolls to fetch a washcloth, she makes a noise of protest loudly enough that he turns to look. She fixes him with an inappropriately serious look, though he can see the grin hiding just beneath the surface.

            “You know you’re not getting away that easy,” she says, and Nathan is back on her side when Duke looks to him for some kind of help. “You promised I get to mark _my_ treasure tonight.”

            He just smiles. “So I did,” he agrees, putting one knee back on the bed and leaning to kiss her forehead. “We’ve got all night, Audrey.”

            Nathan slides his left hand down Audrey’s arm, threads his fingers through hers, and holds up their hands together. Their matching golden bands glint in the soft bedroom light. “Got our whole lives,” Nathan amends.

            Duke doesn’t have words for what that does to him, and even if he did he doesn’t think they’d fit past the lump in his throat, so he just leans closer and kisses the both of them because it’s true. They do. They have their whole entire lives to spend loving one another.

            And that, Duke thinks, is something to write home about.

 

* * *

 

            Duke wakes slow and muzzy the next morning, eyes sticky with sleep and body _aching_ in a way it rarely does. He smiles, keeping his eyes closed and just soaking up the warm comfort of Audrey to his left and Nathan to his right. The minute movement of his ship on calm waters very nearly rocks him back to sleep until Audrey shifts and rubs her hand across his ribcage to touch her fingertips to Nathan.

            “Audrey,” Duke murmurs, barely any volume. Nathan deserves to sleep in.

            She makes a small noise of complaint, curling her fingers in to press them against Duke’s love-marked ribs instead. The tickle shoots through his middle, nerves jumping, and through sheer will he manages to hold still to not disturb Nathan, himself.

            “Audrey,” Duke repeats, low, a rasp of breath over his self control, enjoys the way Audrey’s eyes close slow and heavy at her name.

            Without responding, she relaxes into his side, gives a little huff as she resigns herself to lying there with them instead of getting up to _do things_. Duke shifts just enough to get his arm up under her head, give her the room to get closer, and that seems to settle her.

            When her hand begins to move again a few minutes later, Duke keeps quiet. She isn’t touching with any sort of intent, just tracing her splayed hand back and forth, back and forth over his belly. His breath goes soft when he realizes what she is doing; she is using his skin to roll her new ring around the base of her finger, testing the feel of it.

            “Where did you hide them?” she asks, hand finally stilling. “On the boat, I mean.”

            Duke lets himself smile. There are very few places on the entire ship that Audrey and Nathan will not go; even most of his hidden cupboards and holes have been found by these two over the course of their journey. He’s very proud that he’d managed to find at least one place they never went.

            “The sugar jar,” he says. “You two never use it for your coffee, so I figured it was a safe bet.”

            “You figured right,” Audrey tells him, sounding mystified. “We could spend three more years on this boat and I wouldn’t have looked there.”

            “We can’t spend three more years on this boat,” Nathan mumbles, face still mostly in the pillow.

            “We could try,” Duke says, turning his head to see Nathan peeking out with just one eye. Even though Nathan doesn’t say a word, Duke knows what he is thinking. They can only stay away so long before _vacation_ becomes _life_. Before leaving for a little while becomes _running away_. He sighs and nudges at Nathan’s side with his elbow. “I know we have to go home eventually. Soon, probably.”

            “Not yet,” Audrey says softly, fingers stretching out to brush over Nathan’s skin, and Duke can feel the shiver he gives. Then she splays her hand back over Duke’s ribs. “And not forever, when we do.”

            Duke smiles and kisses her forehead, grateful for the comfort of her reassurances. They will have to go home sometime, he knows that, but it feels less like a trap when he knows they can leave again. There is an amount of safety in knowing that the world won’t end - that _Haven_ won’t end - if they take some time off for themselves once in a while.

            Nathan puts his face back in the pillow for a moment and Duke can practically _feel_ him trying to hang onto that moment of time between being able to sleep in and knowing he has to get up. Then he shifts up onto one arm, drapes his other over Duke, and flops back down again, apparently deciding bed is still the better option.

            “We have to go home,” he grumbles into Duke’s shoulder, fingers finding Audrey’s skin. “Before we see everything.”

            Audrey picks up her head to look at him, brow knit, but Duke’s smile widens. “Yeah,” he agrees, and Audrey turns her confusion on him instead, still not understanding. Duke gives a little shrug. “Gotta leave something new to see next time,” he explains. Nathan smiles against his shoulder.

            With a roll of her eyes, Audrey sits up and scoots out of the bed. “I’m going to make breakfast,” she tells them in a no-nonsense tone. They both watch as she puts at least some clothing on -not all of it her own - and then she leaves them alone in the bedroom.

            “I hope it’s pancakes,” Nathan says after she is out of sight.

            “Have you seen her make pancakes?” Duke asks, grin warming the words.

            “I know,” Nathan says, his tone making it clear that he has witnessed the same crimes. “I keep meaning to teach her. At least they taste good.”

            They laze about for a little longer, just soaking up each others company, before Duke slides out of bed and starts to dress. By the time Nathan joins him, the scent of cooking eggs and bacon and toast is drifting into the room. When they join Audrey in the galley, Nathan moves smoothly around Audrey to get plates and silverware while Duke clears the table.

            Halfway through her plate, Audrey clears her throat and very carefully studies the scrambled eggs on the tip of her fork. “So… I know we’re supposed to leave today, but there’s something I want to do here before we go.”

            “Sure,” comes the automatic response from both of them. Duke smiles and trades a look with Nathan. Of course they will both do whatever Audrey wants, there is no question there. Nathan asks: “What is it?”

            “It’s… a surprise,” she tells them, flashing a smile. Duke knows that smile. They are going to enjoy whatever that smile entails.

            So they smile back, and finish their breakfast in companionable silence. Duke toes at Nathan’s socked feet just to get him to pay attention to him instead of the food, and Nathan indulges him with tolerant glances because anything that isn’t pancakes can afford distraction. Audrey watches them both from under her lashes, chewing and smiling and intercepting Duke a few times just to see them both give her looks.

            Duke isn’t sure he’d ever really known the meaning of the word _carefree_ until they had settled into this journey and let themselves relax.

            It looks good on them, on Audrey, and Nathan- on all of them together.

            Audrey excuses herself from the table without taking her plate, and both Duke and Nathan watch her stir around in the kitchen. Duke guesses where she is going and sits back to wait, watching Nathan instead, to see if he’ll guess as well. As soon as Audrey turns around with the little sugar bowl, Nathan’s eyes light up and flick to Duke’s naked hands where he has spread them on the table top.

            “Is it in here?” Audrey asks as she sets the bowl on the table and takes her seat again.

            “Yeah,” Duke says, the word coming out far more raw than intended. He would have fetched it on his own, before they left for the day. He had been _prepared_ for that, for the same kind of independence that he’d had his entire life.

            He is not prepared for the way Audrey slides the top from the sugar bowl and gives the sugar a stir with the tiny spoon. The plastic bag containing his ring surfaces at her motion, and she fishes it out with two slender fingers. His vision spins a little to the rapid beat of his heart as she slides the golden ring from within, letting it rest so innocuously in the palm of her hand as she looks up at him thoughtfully.

            “I know that you… asked us,” she says, choosing her words carefully, searching him for a reaction. “And knowing you, you probably didn’t expect us to… to ask you, back. But I- I _want_ to. I want to give you a choice.”

            “Audrey…” Duke argues softly. She doesn’t have to ask; he has chosen her a thousand times, he will choose her a thousand more. He has already chosen them both for the rest of his life, it shouldn’t be a question anymore.

            Nathan leans forward, stretching out his hand and laying it over Audrey’s to draw Duke’s attention. “We’re not questioning you,” he says, slowly, deliberately, and Duke knows his thoughts must have shown on his face. “But in the past, there were a lot of times you didn’t have a choice. Because something had to be done, or because it was what other people needed you to do, or because you were trying to stay alive or keep someone else alive.”

            Nathan moves his hand to reveal the ring again, now that he is sure Duke understands their intent. After everything that had happened in their lives, all the times when Duke had been given choices that were never really choices, asked to do things he desperately did not want to do and yet had to do anyway…

            He was never alone in that, he thinks, looking between the two of them. They had all been backed into corners. They had all had choices stripped from them. Their hands had all been forced, at one time or another.

            A part of him knows that these are the reasons this journey has been so important to all of them. Freedom. From fate, from duty, from responsibility, from destinies none of them asked for or wanted. The choices they made now were their own, and even though they both could have assumed Duke’s willingness in this particular matter, they still wanted to give him a chance to choose his own fate.

            “He’s right, and it’s different now. We make our own fate, right?” Audrey says as she plucks the little gold band from her palm and holds it up between two fingers. “So, Duke Crocker… Will you have us?”

            He can’t help the smile, or the small, relieved huff of laughter that escapes at hearing her say those words. “Yeah. Yes.”

            When he reaches for his ring, she pulls it back slightly, enough to make his belly give a little leap of worry as he meets her gaze. But she is smiling, brows raised and eyes bright. “Even if we strip search you and keep you up _way_ past your bedtime?” she says mischievously. “Even if we like pancakes better than waffles? Even if-”

            “Yes, Audrey,” Duke says, laughter coloring his words as he makes another attempt for the ring. She thwarts him by pulling it back again.

            “Even if we put our cold feet on the backs of your knees at night?” she asks, faking incredulity. “Even if we open _every single_ pirate hiding spot on your whole ship?”

            “Even then,” he tells her, and now Nathan is smiling as well. Duke stands to get closer, and she stands to back up to keep the game going.

            “Even if we wake you up at Good Cop hours and come home at Too Much Paperwork hours?” she says speculatively.

            This time, instead of going for the ring, Duke makes a grab for Audrey, hooking an arm around her waist and dragging her in close. He noses at her temple, voice softening. “Even if all of that and more. If you just promise you’ll both always come home, it won’t matter what time. I’ll always be happy to see you.”

            Audrey uncurls her hand and grasps his with her other, straightening out his ring finger and slipping the golden band onto it. The metal is already warm, and it feels _right_.

            “Okay,” Audrey says, leaning into him. “That’s a good promise, I think I can promise that.”

            They both look to Nathan, who twitches a smile back at them. “I think we can both promise that.”

            Duke knows that it is silly, that there is no way that they can actually promise that, not with their jobs, but it feels good to hear it from them. It feels good to know that, if nothing else, they will both have at least one reason to want to come home, to want to stay in one piece. It feels good to _be_ that reason.

            “Good,” he says softly, releasing Audrey. “Then I promise, too. I won’t go anywhere I can’t come home from.”

            They both give him bright smiles and, not for the first time, Duke thinks that he might just have all the treasure he needs right here in them.


	2. Epilogue

* * *

 

 

            Dwight arrives home late, tired but happy. There is still sunlight on the horizon, and he decides that counts as home before dark, which is something he hasn’t managed in two days. He makes a quick run down the driveway to fetch the mail, and meets the babysitter at the door to pay her and send her on her way home. Thankfully she lives just down the street, so he won’t have to drive her home, but he does stand on the porch watching until she’s made it in her front door.

            He sets the mail on the kitchen table and finds Lizzie growing roots on the couch in front of her favorite television show, a bowl of what looks like lasagna in her lap. Munching on a small pile of fresh greens and fruit beside her is a small, boxy tortoise she is ignoring entirely, though she glances up when he pokes his head in.

            “Hey Dad,” she says cheerfully. “Dinner’s on the stove. Kelly made lasagna.”

            “Homework?” he asks as he crosses the room to pick up the tortoise.

            “All finished,” Lizzie says, rolling her eyes. “They barely give us any, anyway. We’re supposed to be _spending time with our family_.”

            Dwight smiles, heart twisting a little. It’s been almost a year now, and those that survived the Troubles are still looking over their shoulders, still striving to make time _count_. He doesn’t want to think that any good at all came out of such a horrific trauma, but he’s not blind. The town and all of its denizens have become fiercely protective of all of the good things in their lives, determined to ensure that things go well from now on.

            “That sounds like unfinished homework to me,” he says with false sternness. “Why don’t you pick up Nancy’s food and come eat your dinner at the table with me like a civilized human being.”

            Lizzie sighs dramatically, but she scoops up the vegetation from beside her and hops to her feet, following her dad out to the kitchen. She takes Nancy out of his hands so that he can make a plate for himself. The tortoise gets deposited on a wicker mat between their places, and then Lizzie climbs into one of the chairs.

            Dwight sits beside her, placing his plate down gently. “How was the rest of your day?” he asks as he wedges a bite from his chunk of lasagna with the edge of his fork. With his free hand, he tugs the pile of mail closer to him so he can sort it and eat at the same time.

            “Good,” she says evasively. “We had a spelling test.”

            He glances over at her tone and she doesn’t meet his eyes. “And how did you do?”

            She looks miserable as she mumbles: “Not good…”

            He sets his fork on his plate and reaches over to cover one of her hands with his, finally drawing her attention up to him. “It’s just spelling,” he says softly. “We’ll practice tonight, okay? We’ll make up a game.”

            After a moment of hesitation, she brightens, turning her hand over in his to give it a little squeeze. “Okay. That sounds fun.”

            With a smile, he lets her get back to her food and takes a bite of his own. They eat in silence as he flips through the various bits of mail. Junk, junk, bill, work business, newspaper ads, junk, mortgage-

            Postcard.

            Gently, he lifts the brightly colored card from the pile. The front has a beautiful, Alaskan landscape on the horizon of an expanse of water. There are whales surfacing at the center of the photo, spouting water into the misty air above them. The script letters along the bottom say _Anchorage_.

            “Another postcard?” Lizzie asks, stretching her neck to see it.

            “Another postcard,” he confirms, flipping it over to read the back.

            When he doesn’t read it aloud, Lizzie says impatiently: “ _Well?_ ”

            He chuckles and skims back to the top of the fine, neat print. “Sasquatch,” he begins, smiling at the old nickname. “We’re leaving Anchorage today. We went panning for gold yesterday, and, well, they found some. Two gold rings, to be exact, and they both said yes. Audrey took us whale watching as our last outing here, and somehow convinced the captain to take us all the way out to international waters to have a ceremony. It was… nice. Perfect. We’re heading home soon. PS: Turns out Nathan is even a sucker for baby _whales_.”

            “They got married?” Lizzie asked brightly. “All three of them?”

            “That’s what it says,” Dwight tells her, passing the postcard over to her. The postcards have so far all been addressed to him, but she has decided she is the Keeper of the Cards. She had decorated a cardboard box to put them all in, and told him that when they come back, she will give it to them as a welcome home present. After a year, the box is getting pretty full.

            “I knew it!” she squeals as she slowly reads it over again. “Awesome.”

            “Awesome,” Dwight agrees, though the word doesn’t sound as cool in his mouth. “Eat your dinner, you can put that away later.” Putting one card away generally involved dumping _all_ of the cards and rereading or looking at the fronts of her favorites.

            She finishes her food with lightning speed and then dumps her dishes into the dishwasher and scoops Nancy off the table mid-strawberry. Dwight watches her disappear to his bedroom to replace the tortoise in her enclosure, and then he picks up the postcard she left behind, flipping it so he can see the writing.

            The three of them had taken off shortly after the Troubles had ended, after Audrey had come back to find them both alive, in Duke’s case again. He remembered the day she and Nathan had come to him to tell him they were taking a leave of absence, and Nathan had handed him interim Chief of Police despite everything that had happened with the Guard.

            Audrey had told him they would be back in a year, kissed his cheek, and left to help Duke make preparations on the newly-raised and rebuilt _Rouge_. Nathan had lingered, hands in his pockets because he hadn’t yet shaken the habit of protecting them.

            “We might not,” Nathan had finally managed, gruff, like he was irritated he had to admit to it. He had glanced up, only to find Dwight looking right back at him. “Come back.”

            “After just a year?” Dwight had asked, though they both knew that wasn’t what Nathan meant.

            “At all,” Nathan had told him, glancing away again. “It’s just… a lot. For all of us. And a year’s a long time.”

            “I get it,” Dwight had said, and he did. He still does. By that time they had spent years fighting against impossible odds, enduring horrific things, making decisions about which trauma would be the lesser to survive in order to avoid their inescapable, terrible fates. They had literally _died_ , on more than one occasion, or been forced to give up their existence, and it was… a lot, just like Nathan had said.

            It was enough that Dwight would not have blamed them at all if they had taken off and not looked back once.

            _We’re heading home soon_.

            He smiles, and places the postcard back on the table.


End file.
